They will reinforce the brand’s story. Encourage storytelling everywhere. When your brand hits the mainstream, its story will become further entrenched in public awareness. Don’t suppress any accurate telling of your brand’s story. A great example of successful brand storytelling comes from Ben Silbermann, co-founder of Pinterest. Storytelling is a brand’s most powerful marketing tool if it is done effectively. But how is it done effectively? An energetic narrative. See how USPs relate to the brand story, and build an immersive narrative environment around them. Establish a propulsive and consistent storyline for your event.
Did you know that authentic brand storytelling is more effective than SEO tricks? In fact, research shows that a brand’s mission and backstory motivate consumers more than advertisements. Millennials, in particular, often turn to social media, website About pages, or blogs to see if you’re “legit”.
How can you build customer loyalty if your brand sounds generic?
To create an easy-to-love brand, you must first understand and articulate your mission and backstory. If your story shows integrity, you’ll gain customer trust. And the way to do that is through your brand’s unique “Hero’s Journey”.
Ancient Greek Mythology
How It Works
As a copywriter who studied screenwriting and journalism, I’ll share with you the tried-and-true techniques that storytellers have used throughout history.
Joseph Campbell analyzed this process decades ago. Later, Christopher Vogel transformed it into a 12-step Hollywood screenwriting formula.
For marketing content, I’ve adapted this method into a technique I call “Your Brand is a Hero”. I use it to create authentic brand storytelling and web copy for all of my clients. And now, so can you.
If you’d like to hear this described in a podcast, tune in to wpBUILDS. In part 1, I show how this technique can build a compelling brand story. In part 2, aired this December 14, I show how it relates to web copy. Both versions are free and can be found on the wpBUILDS website.
To get started now, grab a pen and notepad and follow the steps in this blog. Let’s begin.
The Hero’s Journey for Authentic Brand Storytelling
1. The Ordinary World: In film, this often occurs within 5-12 minutes. We see the hero stuck in his/her regular routine. And we see why breaking out of that world is necessary for growth.
In relation to a brand’s backstory, this is what you were doing before you built a new business or brand. Jot down what your needs and goals were then, and what motivated you to change.
For a great example of an entrepreneur’s journey, watch the film JOY. Compare the protagonist’s world in the beginning of the film to each step of her journey.
In my own backstory, I was a designer in NYC with a journalism and art background. For fun, I’d invent fake, ridiculous products and paint cheeky “ads” about them. You’d never have convinced me that many years later, this would become my dream job.
2. Call to Adventure: This is the catalyst that propels the hero to take action. Think of what compelled you to start your business. Recall what you sacrificed or endured to put yourself “out there”. Initially, you may resist this leap. But you do it anyway, because your life (or the lives of others) depends on it.
Vivian Malone bravely enters the previously all-white university.
3. Overcoming Fear and Meeting Your Mentor: Who gave you confidence when you were starting out? Who taught you to overcome fear and take risks? This could be a deceased parent or teacher from long ago, or a mentor in the business world. The more unique and personal you make your brand’s story, the more interesting it will be to others.
4. Crossing the Threshold: Here’s where the hero adapts to this strange, new environment. The mentor usually appears with sage advice and guides the hero to the next step…
5. Commitment to Change, Despite All Obstacles: This beat is crucial to every story, yet amateur writers omit it. Why? They’re afraid of appearing weak. They don’t realize that…
Overcoming failure takes perseverance. Guts. Character. It makes you relatable.
We all stumble in life, especially when we’re on new terrain. But we pick ourselves up and continue. That’s commitment.
Has this happened in your business? Write down how it motivates your brand today.
For me, this took place during my first theatre production in New Zealand.
It was opening night at the Fringe Festival. Everything was in place and the venue was packed. But throughout the play, it was clear that the audience did not enjoy this political satire. As they trickled out of the venue, a seasoned festival director pulled me aside and said:
“All of the biggest media people were here. So at least you know your press kit was killer.”
I realized later that these were the words of a mentor. His insight assured me that, while I couldn’t control a play’s content, I knew how to fill seats. I had a knack for persuasive call-to-action and marketing copy. And I was determined to build on that.
This is the turning point where the hero’s commitment to change leads him/her to…
6. Meeting Allies
7. Enduring Ordeals
8. Adapting to New Conditions
In films, you sometimes see these 3 steps as a montage. Usually the hero is learning new skills from various allies. Often they are preparing for battle or the ultimate test.
Friends training for battle.
In relation to my backstory, I had just moved to Canada. It soon became obvious that in order to keep my international clients, I’d have to branch into web copy.
I was already aware that my combination of skills —writing, design, and marketing— gave me an advantage over many other writers. But I hadn’t written for websites yet. How would I showcase this? To paraphrase Field of Dreams, I decided:
“If you build it, they will come.”
That’s right. I built baseball diamonds (websites), so people could see me pitch (write web copy).
Sounds crazy, but like the film, Field of Dreams, it worked. I attracted stellar marketing and web design teams. They wanted me as their pitcher/brand storyteller. And thankfully, they didn’t expect me to build the baseball diamond each time I played.
This High Point for the hero occurs toward the end of Act II. It’s called a False Victory.
Why false?
Because in a hero’s journey, no prize comes that easily.
9. Big Changes
All stories have ebbs and flows called arcs. Without these, the pacing can become overwhelming (too much conflict), or boring (not enough conflict).
Here’s a brief example. While teaching myself how to build websites was fine at first, I needed to learn more. I joined a Facebook community of website builders and took a heap of notes. After some trial-by-fire training, I met Paul Lacey, a seasoned Web Designer. We agreed on a skill exchange: I’d edit his web copy and create brand slogans; he’d help me with web design and coding.
Things were going well. I secured a big client. Paul was teaching me CSS via custom-made videos.
Then one day, while finishing up a site, I experienced the hero’s lowest point in a story:
The Whiff of Death or All is Lost moment.
It happened after working 24 hours straight. My brain was fried, but I just had a few minor customizations remaining. When, suddenly–
POOF! The site crashed.
I stared into that dreaded White Screen of Death, a web builder’s worst nightmare.
The white screen of death.
Losing a full day’s work (with only 1 day ’til deadline) put me in a tailspin!
True to The Hero’s Journey, I called on my ally, Paul Lacey. He immediately helped patch things up. Now, we’re a long-distance team: I send web clients to him; he sends marketing copy jobs to me.
What’s the point of Step 9?
To gain customer trust, share how you overcame a big obstacle. This shows that you’re capable, humble, and honest.
10. New Dedication: This is where the hero comes up for air. He/she has learned to swim, but still has a distance to go before reaching land.
In my story, it comes to this:
The result of my hard work, research, and challenges are paying off. I’m getting calls from headhunters and companies. They’re saying how impressed they are with my writing and they’re networkingfor me.
That feels great, because I’ve always been the promoter for others. I love doing that. But getting this treatment in return and having others network for me… well, this fortifies me for the final leg of my journey.
Build Loyalty With Brand Storytelling Techniques 3rd Edition
11. The Resurrection
Build Loyalty With Brand Storytelling Techniques Examples
12. The Prize or Elixir
These last 2 steps are how films and books wrap up.
The Resurrection is where a hero is stronger by resolving the polarities he/she faced at the start of the journey.
He/she has escaped death, won the prized Elixir, and must share it with others.
The closing scene usually shows that the hero has come full circle. In fact, quite often, the closing scene visually mirrors the opening.
In the beginning of my story, you’ll recall that I was the anti-copywriter. I eschewed consumerism and made cheeky paintings that mocked advertisements.
By contrast, at my story’s end, I’ve combined my design and writing skills to become a professional copywriter. Now, I help small businesses manifest their big visions. That’s the Elixir in my brand’s journey. And this is how I share it.
Hero returns from the journey to share the prize.
In Field of Dreams, the hero builds the baseball diamond and attracts his dream team. Against all odds, he saves the farm and converts the naysayers. As a result, he connects with his family in ways he never expected.
That’s how his story ends.
Yours has just started. Let me help you tell it.
For authentic brand storytelling and copywriting services, call +1 (778) 712-1268 (Canada) or email regina@pagebreak.info. I specialize in adopting a brand’s tone and voice for every platform, and can use British, American, or Canadian grammar. Oxford commas are optional. 🙂
New clients: Get a 30 minute brand consultation FREE. Contact Pagebreak today.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Fully 75% of B2B marketers who have used content marketing successfully say they have been able to use it to build credibility and trust. —MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute
A core objective of content marketing is to create a business reputation that influences audience decisions.
Content marketing allows a business to build an audience that enjoys its content, engages with it, and shares it with peers. The result: a strong content-led brand that attracts new and repeat customers.
So, what does it take to build an ardent fanbase with content marketing?
Let's look at seven key approaches.
1. Define your target audience
Companies that exceed the lead and revenue goals were 2.2 times more likely to have documented personas than companies that missed their targets. —Cintell
Branded content needs to have a conversation with a specific audience. Accordingly, you need to delve deep into the challenges, aspirations, and interests of your targeted audience. Here are two examples of such persona types:
- College students looking for street food options in their city. Challenge: limited budget to eat out. Aspiration: to be a foodie. Interests: good food, eating out.
- Mid-career professionals looking for financial advice. Challenge: lack of savings. Aspiration: looking to buy a home. Interests: passive income options, investment avenues.
A well-defined and narrow persona lays the foundation for creating audience-centric content. In the case of financial services company FastCapital360, to target small business owners it created a blog that caters to their needs:
From help on how to set-up an email account to advertising tips, the blog is a go-to resource for its audience.
2. Develop an authentic voice
'Honest and open dialogue, which customers considered most important, was one of the three themes not emphasized at all by the 90 [B2B] companies in our sample.' —McKinsey
Follow the herd mentality and stay mediocre, or develop a unique content style and cut through the digital noise. A unique voice lends a distinct character to your content marketing, drawing an audience that is attracted to your voice and knows what to expect from each content piece.
For instance, energy drink brand Red Bull has created a voice that personifies adventure, thrill, and extreme sports. And it has gathered around itself passionate extreme adventure-sports enthusiasts.
Red Bull organizes sporting events, covers them, and relays them through video content on its online properties. It has built a fanbase of 48 million followers on Facebook and 8.94 million subscribers on YouTube.
3. Benchmark content quality
'Instead of measuring how long someone stays on a page, we have short surveys about our content which we send to our newsletter subscribers,' —Carsten Schaefer, founder and CEO, Crowdy.ai
In today's competitive content marketing environment, quality takes center stage. The definition of quality is not limited to content length, formatting, and visual appeal alone. Here are some important steps to help you improve your content quality and make it stand out:
- Create an inspiration deck of great content pieces from within your niche and outside it.
- Work on your quality documentation based on audience behavior and responses.
- Score your content based on predefined parameters related to your brand's quality guidelines.
- Ask your audience about their content preferences.
Working on improving content quality is essential for achieving resonance with an audience and building affinity between you and that audience.
4. Work on achieving thought leadership
58% of all [B2B] decision makers spend 1-3 hours reading thought-leadership content on a weekly basis (with 21% reading over 4 hours per week) —Edelman Insights
Thought-leadership does not happen overnight. But companies, whether B2B or B2C, that go deep into a niche and go out of their way to help their audience end up becoming leaders.
For instance, Michelle Phan became a thought-leader in the beauty and make-up niche by publishing unique and expert video content.
She then launched two beauty brands: Ipsy and EM Cosmetics. Her YouTube channel has over 8.9 million subscribers. Ipsy's Facebook page has over 5 million subscribers.
Thought-leadership creates the right aura around your brand and naturally attracts more people to it and its products.
5. Embrace storytelling
'Stories have the power to engage prospects with an emotional hook that endears them to a brand.' —Heather Pemberton Levy, vice-president of content marketing, Gartner
Relatable anecdotes entertain and create memorable experiences. You can tell various types of stories:
- The idea behind starting your business—its larger purpose, goals, vision and mission
- The struggles and challenges in your journey
- Achievements, awards, and milestones
- Behind the scenes of the company
- Stories featuring your customers or employees
'In essence, our biggest content successes were pieces that told stories of how Chanty succeeded as a startup,' says Olga Mykhoparkina, CMO at Chanty, an AI-powered team chat app. 'We used content marketing to grow our company from 0 to 40,000 monthly website visits, which took us about two years.'
True stories create long-lasting impressions and build strong bonds.
6. Find your focus
Each marketing channel demands its own content type. Building a blogging community is different from creating a YouTube channel, for instance.
Focusing on a single channel and content type is a more result-driven approach to content marketing: The strategy caters to specific audience needs and interests.
American Express, for example, zeroed-in on user-generated blog content to build a community of small business owners.
Marketoonist has made a mark by focusing on humorous cartoons:
GoPro, the professional camera maker, has built a subscriber base of 7.89 million on YouTube. The channel features videos created by professional athletes using GoPro products.
Prioritizing the right content channel and format is vital for creating an impact with your messages.
7. Bring about a mindset shift
71% of buyers/readers say they've been turned off by content that seems like a sales pitch. —Economist Group's 'Missing the Mark'
The ideal content marketing mindset is about putting the audience first; it's about running a parallel media company alongside your business.
For example, Penny Hoarder is one of the biggest media companies in the personal finance space. The publishing company has over 16 million monthly blog readers and over 6 million Facebook fans.
Penny Hoarder was able to get a massive following with two key strategies:
- Mission-driven content
- A process to scale content
Take a look at its mission statement:
Thinking like a journalist, not a salesperson or pushy marketer, helps you to not only enjoy the process of creating and sharing useful content—which is when you know you're on the right track—but also create content that your audience finds useful.
It's your turn
Most successful content marketing brands have managed to build a large yet focused audience for their content. These businesses have made an honest effort to understand whom they're targeting and how to make them happy.
Content marketing isn't about going after vanity metrics; it's about building lasting relationships with those who matter by being persistent about creating content experiences that are cherished.